Consecutive Puzzle
About this exercise
Finding a run of consecutive numbers that add to a given total.
Example problems
A few of the problems this exercise asks. The printable worksheet holds ten fresh ones.
- Three consecutive numbers add up to 66. What is the smallest number?
- Three consecutive numbers add up to 27. What is the smallest number?
- Three consecutive numbers add up to 96. What is the smallest number?
- Three consecutive numbers add up to 36. What is the smallest number?
Try it yourself first — open a section below only if you get stuck.
How to solve it
Divide the total by how many numbers there are to find the middle one, then spread outwards by one each way.
Worked example
Three consecutive numbers totaling 12 have a middle of 12 : 3 = 4, so they are 3, 4 and 5.
Common mistake
Starting the run at the divided value. With three numbers the quotient is the middle one, not the smallest.